Improvement in oil-ej ectors



W. W. HUBBELL.

Patented oct. s1, 1865.

V/V/ V UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

WM. WHEELER HUBBELL, O F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN OIL-EJECTORS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM WHEELERl HUBBELL, of the cityr of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, counselor and scientific engineer, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Ejectors for OilVells; and I hereby declare the following' to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making part hereof.

The nature ot' my invention consists in the construction and combination of means or devices, as hereinafter described, to employ atmospheric air or gas in a better manner than heretofore when forced down by an engine or other power operating an air pump or blower, to induce and force the oil upward in greater quantity, in proportion to the power and the diameter of the well, than any other construction of ejector using air.

I am aware that all ejectors using gases or air have a general similarity to the Gifford ejector orinjector, to force a uid against pressure, statical or otherwise, by the velocity or pressure of gas, whether air, steam, or other gas, and that the Gifford-ejector construction has been applied to oilwells; but it is not adapted to develop'the full capacity of the wells, nor to work with economy by exigirlepower and compressed air.

My invention is adapted to develop the full capacity of the wells by expanding and controlling or directing the air in such a manner as to expend its power in forcing the oil upward without exhausting the power of the engine in compressing the air through contracted orifices; also, by using the gas which rises with the oil to accelerate the oil upward before the air forced down acts upon it, all as de scribed.

My ejector is attached to the lower part of .an air-tube, b, which extends to the top of the well, and is connected with a strong fan-blower or cylinder-blower worked by the steamen gine or other power, down which tube b it forces a large body or volume of air, as indicated by the arrow 1. The wells often have the oil to weep or feed slowly into` them through the sandstone surface or sides of the well for many feet of the depth from the bottom, and the oil trickles down toward the bottom,where the ejector is placed. In this case a space, ll 1l, Figs. 2, 3, is left around the enlarged body 1" if of the ejector, between it and the well-surface a a, for the oil to pass down through below the bottom of the enlarged case r i" to the mouth 6 6 of the chamber t' or entrance to the ejector, and the seed-bagA W, formed ot tlaxsced in a leather sack, o, secured by wire m, is placedv up in the well above the feed of the oil, asin Fig. 2, and around t'he air-tube b and owing or oil tube, either alongside of it, as shown in this Fig. 2, or around or concentric with it, asshown in Fig. 1, and extended, of about two and a half inches diameter, to the top of the well when the air-tube is about one inch d-iameter, and of three and a halt' inches diameter when the air-tube is two inches diameter, as in Fig. 1. If the engine is power.v

ful enough to do the work, the more air is forced down the larger air-tube may be used and the more oil is forced up. If the oil feeds into the well at the bottom and not from the sides, so that nooil enters the well above the ejector, then the seed-bagis placed immediately around the body of the ejector, filling the space .o n, and in both applications this seed-bag excludes or cuts off the water which enters the well above its location. l

Figure l is a longitudinal section, showing a concentric arrangement of the air-tube with the enlarged case and devices of the ejector, with braces g without the gas and oil accelerator attached to it. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the entire invention' with the idowing-tube and air-pipe arranged side by side, and Fig. 3 is a cross-section of Fig. 2 on the line l2. i

Similar letters in all the figures, when used, denote similar parts.

The lower end of the air-tube c is coned or contracted slightly, as shown, to give room for the air to sweep around in the reverse direction in the coned inverted cup below it. This inverted coned cup is a most important device. The mouth c of the air-tube b is entirely open above the apex d of the cone, which points upward directly opposite the mouth c,'so as to split and expand the air in every direction equably, and the cup has a curved face, c c, turning upward aud forming'into a cylindrical surface, 7" f, discharging upward in an annular column, as indicated b v the arrows 22. The cuter part ot' this coned cup, at 7c 7a, is cylindrical.

The bottom may be coned or curved, as shown, and is attached to cross-supports g g, to sus tain itin position. These supports have spaces between them for the oil to low through upward, and are secured to the outer case, r', at h, and in Fig. 2 also to the inside of an accelerating or vseparating case, 8 8, placed below the coned cup and extending up as far4 as its outer cylindrical surface at k. The lower part of this ejector is an enlarged case, r rf, so as to admit of the application of the coned cup and accelerator', operating as described here'- inat'ter, and this coned cup and the air-tube b are each supported and presented together, so that the column of air descending in the tube bis turned in Aa solid body upward without .either undue resistance, separation, or .com-

pression, and preserving its full velocity and body to act upon and force the oil upward at the position m into and up the annular space vo 0, formed by the contracted or smaller part s of the case fr around this central air-tube, b. This air-tube b is supported in this central position by braces or a connection, @fastened to the outer or iowing tube, and leaving spaces, as indicated by the arrows n and q, for the oil and gas'with the air to pass upward. This construction and arrangement leaves the air as it descends and begins to ascend to act in a body with its whole momentum and force upon the oil in an upward direction at the position m m, which is all-important to forceit up the space o. This annular space o is directly over and equal, or nearly so, to the annular space formingthe mout-h of the coned cup, and as large or larger than the area ot' the descending pipe b, while the enlarged chamber r r of the ejector aiords space for the oil to ascend and be directed by means ot' the accelerating-surfaces-7'j ol' the case to the channel l-l, as indicated by the arrows 3 3, by which construction and arrangement the direct statical pressure of the oil in the tlowingtube or space o is broughty directly opposite the force of the ascending column of air without compressing the air through small nozzles and plied inside of the chamber i, Fig. 2, a separator, 8-8, connected to the bottom of the chamber or tube i" at its lower end, 11, as shown, forminga surrounding chamber, 10, between its external surface and the inner surface of the case, r',- with holes 9 9 through it from the chamber inside of'it to that outside of it, so that the oil shall be drawn through these holes 9, as indicated by the arrows 3, to the position l, and the separator being coned to form the outer chamber, 10, also allows the gas to rise quickly in a body from the oil or risel direct inside of this separator, be accelerated tothe positionor mouth at '76, asi'ndicated by the arrows 7 7, and expend its force upon the oil at the position l just before the air strikes it at m'to assist in forcing the oil up. This gas has considerable lifting force, and in some cases so great as'to force the oil up a plain tube.

By my system of preserving or expanding the volume of the ascending column of gas, l do not diminish, but increase or assist, this natural tendency of the well to ow.

Z Z is the lower edge of the ejector, and 6 6 its entrance or mouth.

4 is a hollow foot or tube to keep the ejector from being let down too close to the bottom of-vthe well, leaving space for the oil to enter it. 5', Fig. 1, is a bridge-piece to attach the foot 4 to. In Figs. 2, 3 this foot 4 is attached to the cross-supports g, which also cari-yor sustain the c oned cup'.

t denotes that part of the dowing-tube to .which the air-tube is attached. When they are side by side above the ejector, as in Fig. 2, bot-h are curved, as shown at p, Fig. 2, and the air-tube enters the curve orbend of the ejector or flowing-tube, which may be here enlarged, as shown, to form the annular space'o over the- `discharge-mouth of the c'oned cup, and place the mouth c of the air-tube directly over the inverted cone d ofthe cup.

The letter y in both figures denotes the. up-4 per end ofthe flowing-tube, which in Fig. 2 is diminished to two or two anda half inches in diameter above the place 'of juncture ot' the airtube with it, and extending to the top of the well or the well vat or tank.

In the Fig. l the llowing-tnbe, above the connection p of the air-tube with it, is also to be diminished, leaving anannular space around the air-tube of about three-quarters of an inch in width.

The arrangement of the air-tube and iowing-tube side by side with the double-bend connection to form a concentric position, as shown in Fig. 2, enables the oil to iow up without contact with the shoulders of the connectving-joints of the air-tube, which joints in theconcentric position, Fig.- 1, will'resist the dow of the oil unless they are made nearly iush and beveled, which should be done when the strength of the air-tube allows it.

The construction shown in Fig. 2 is the best for very deep wells, where the greatest strength of the connecting-joints is required. The-coned' mouth c may be made straight, and the cone d be made rounded or Hatter.

l am aware that steam and compressed air have been used to forceoil or fluids up wells,

and therefore Ido not claim these agencies irrespective of the devices which I describe; but

1. The inverted coned cup or deiector with its cone opposite the mouth ofthe air-tube and within the case -r i', as and for the purpose de scribed.

2. The coned mouth c ofthe air-tube inside of the inverted cup, to assist the air to sweep around from a descending to an ascendin g column in the cup7 as described.

3. The open month of the vertical air-tube, discharging downward,` and coned or otherwise opposite the base of the cup, coned or otherwise, with its sidesj' j' extending up around the end of the air-tube, to discharge the air down into the cup iu a solid column and dis-A charge it upward in an annular column inside ofthe oil or outer case7 for the purpose as described.

4. The enlarged case o", with the channel Z., around and above the inverted cup, in combination with the air-tube and the annular space o around it, f'ornied by the contracted ease r, with its lstatical resistance over tlie'air-current of the. cup to supply and force up the oil, as described.

5. The gas and oil separator and accelerator 8 8 inside of the case 1" r', and operating as described.

6. The hollow foot 4, to support the 'ejector and allow the oil to enter its base, as described.

7. rEhe air-tube and oWing-tube, side by side in the we1l,w,th a double bend atthe parts tand p, Fig. 2, andthe air-tube entering thel ow ing-tube to a concentric position over the inverted cup, for the purposes and as described.

8. The braces g, placed below the inverted cup to support it to resist the great force of 'air exerted on it, and allow the air to descend and pass out ot' it again in solid columns, as described.

9. The combination ot' the accelerating-surface jj, the enlarged case 1" v1", the inverted cup and the air-tube with the annular space o o, formed over the cup, to accelerate the oil and gas from the enlarged case to the space c, aided bythe air from the tube and cup, as described.

WM. WHEELER HUBBELL. 

